The flange tightening tool generally relates to wrenches and more specifically to a tool that places and tightens flanges upon the threaded ends of pipes, piping, stands, rails, fences, standards, and the like.
As America underwent the industrial revolution, various factories, warehouses, and other structures appeared. The structures served the people who worked in them and the cities around them. The structures housed various manufacturing, chemical, laboratory or petrochemical operations. These operations utilized piping of all description. The piping conveyed raw materials into the operations, carried prototype materials within the operations, and delivered finished materials from the operations. Select piping also served as fencing, handrails, and dividers in various settings. Piping also saw application out of doors for select manufacturing and chemical processes.
Piping though does not come in a finished assembly for manufacturing, chemical, laboratory or petrochemical operations. Rather, the piping must be assembled from standard and custom components into the desired assembly for the operation. Piping generally comes in hollow cylindrical form and with fittings of various shapes. Piping and related fittings also come in a host of diameters, wall thicknesses, materials, and the like. Generally piping requires a threaded end for connection to a fitting. Piping rarely connects directly to other piping unless welded. Piping and fitting manufacturers sometimes supply threaded ends, other times they do not. Various pipefitters carry the tools that incise and provide threading to ends of piping and fittings.
When connecting piping to piping or piping to a fitting, the plans and specifications for a project generally specify a flange type connection between two components. A flange is generally a cast disk of material with a hollow, threaded neck. The neck is generally centered upon the disk and perpendicular to the disk. Outwardly from the neck, a flange has a plurality of apertures. The neck typically has an internal diameter exceeding the outer diameter of related piping and internal threads, typically right hand. A pipefitter generally turns the neck upon a threaded end of piping until the flange stops rotating upon the end of piping. The pipefitter then aligns the apertures in the flange upon the piping with apertures on an adjacent flange of piping or a fitting.